Film tubes having both ends closed by a clip are being increasingly used, due to their low material consumption, for packing flowable, specifically pasty, substances.
For emptying such a film tube, the tube is placed in a rigid container or cartridge which has a dispensing opening in the vicinity of one of the two tube ends.
In a device known from German Offenlegungsschrift No. 3,826,887, the film tube is punctured by a pin which is manually inserted through a dispensing pipe provided on a cartridge cap, whereupon the pin is retracted.
German Utility Model No. 9,103,038 discloses a device in which the cap of a cartridge receiving the film tube comprises a blade in the vicinity of a lateral dispensing opening, which blade serves to severe one of the folds formed at the front end of the film tube when pressure is exerted on the rear tube end.
German Offenlegungsschriften Nos. 4,322,572 and 1,930,032, British patent No. 690,614, French patent No. 1,065,365 and German Utility Model No. 9,207,558 disclose film tubes which have a nick, slit or similar means provided in a (usually welded) peripheral portion of the tube to enable the tube to be more easily torn or cut open manually. None of these documents is concerned with the possibility of opening the tube by increasing the interior pressure (such as by advancing a piston).
Similarly, European patent application, publication No. 0,620,165 describes a film tube in which the outermost layer of the tube film has a weakened portion for providing a rated breaking point. A dispensing means is provided with a spike for puncturing the tube film.